Mirror People

The early 1990's were a heady time for us independent publishers in the Queen City. There was a lot of hanging out at dance clubs (hey, someone had to do it!). A club that ruled Buffalo in the '90s was the ICON at 391 Ellicott Street.

As I have been posting the Slack Magazines archives, I have been noticing all the great bands listed in the ICON ads that have played the club days gone by. The Drost brothers brought some great acts to Buffalo as well as having some of the best club music. Techno was king and the third floor on Thursday nights-- with reggae DJs Chief and MKO- are now legendary.

A few great club shows (that I remember) include:

• Peter Murphy
• David Byrne
• Gil Scott Heron (2x)
• 808 State
• Dread Zeppelin
• Urge Overkill
• Gwar
• Adrian Belew
• Buzzcocks
• Wu Tang Clan- which I think was the gunshots-show, the final show that finally forced them to shut the club for good.

While searching for some old files, J. ran across a box filled with some vintage goodies including an Artvoice from Aug-Sept 1991. Since there was a good 1/2 dozen of them stashed, I knew I must have had an ad or something that I designed in it. I did find a Wizard Graphic's designed ICON ad in it, but then I found this photo in the Photo Section (above). This was from Canadian ska masters King Apparatus appearance at the club, and it must have been an encore (notice the lighters lit- a pre-cellphone show of appreciation).

Oh, the good ol days... scary, huh?

If any one remembers any other great ICON shows, comment below. I'd love to hear them.